TRANSPORTATION: Agrivision and the NAFTA Super Highway
Please see the background information below regarding what we believe to be a huge transportation network, from Mexico to Winnipeg, through Saskatchewan, Alberta and BC to Prince Rupert, Gateway to Asia.
Thus, all the excitement for Saskatchewan to cash in on the sorting and dispatching of containers on their way through.
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Excerpt from Agrivision's July 24, 2006 Weekly Update:
Shoot or Shut Up
C.M. (Red) Williams, President
Saskatchewan Agrivision Corporation Inc.
(www.agrivision.ca)
Some may think that Saskatchewan Agrivision is a little off-the-rails by setting in motion discussions on an Inland Port in Saskatchewan. After all it is a huge concept and what do we know about railways and container traffic anyway? Let me tell you why I think that if we don’t move aggressively in upgrading our transportation system, we lose big time!
Ocean container traffic has all but eliminated other forms of shipment other than some bulk products like coal and bauxite but even this will decrease. In the process, container ships have become larger and larger to compete and cut costs. To remain efficient they must spend most of their time at sea, which means loading and unloading in as close to 24 hours as possible. That requires a port large enough to meet the time demand, equipped with large cranes and served by just-in-time truck and rail connections. Canada doesn’t currently have one of these large capacity ports. Vancouver is choking on its present traffic and has little room to expand despite the Pacific Gateway initiative underway. We are proposing to investigate John Vickerman’s proposal of an Inland Port in Saskatchewan in order to pull a significant amount of the sorting, stuffing and redirecting away from the coast. In effect, significantly expanding Vancouver’s capacity.
But suppose we ignore the realities and chug along patching and mending the current system. Hundreds of ports around the world didn’t make the timely changes and have permanently lost out in the race for large container ship landings. With that go the land transportation and all the developments built on the global trade. If Saskatchewan Agrivision is wrong, we need to find a better answer very soon because time is short. In the terms of the culture of earlier times, when facing challenges, we must “shoot or shut up”.
C.M. (Red) Williams, President
Saskatchewan Agrivision Corporation Inc. (www.agrivision.ca)
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2.2 Transportation - Inland Port
SAC is in the final stages of signing an ageement with TranSystems, a transportation infrastructure company in the U.S., to provide a business case for an inland port in Saskatchewan. The result of the work would be a presentation to potential investors to determine the interest in moving forward with the concept.
(End of excerpt from Agrivision's Weekly)
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Some background Information:
Transystems
http://www.transystems.com/aboutUs.asp
Transportation infrastructure and facilities - that's our focus. From infrastructure and facility design to computer simulation and economic impact analysis to finding alternative financing solutions for transportation projects - we do it. Our transportation specialists, located in offices across the nation, are unparalleled in the knowledge of the movement of freight and people, and unmatched in technical and managerial services. We provide full-scale professional services to both public- and private-sector transportation clients.
"At every turn, our goal is to add value by converting our client's transportation challenges into economic benefit. To accomplish this, we are students of our client's operational environment -- we listen to their needs and objectives, and we provide a solution-oriented team with profound industry experience."
- Brian Larson, CEO
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Bush Administration Quietly Plans NAFTA Super Highway
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=15497
by Jerome R. Corsi Posted Jun 12, 2006
Quietly but systematically, the Bush Administration is advancing the plan to build a huge NAFTA Super Highway, four football-fields-wide, through the heart of the U.S. along Interstate 35, from the Mexican border at Laredo, Tex., to the Canadian border north of Duluth, Minn.
Once complete, the new road will allow containers from the Far East to enter the United States through the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas, bypassing the Longshoreman’s Union in the process. The Mexican trucks, without the involvement of the Teamsters Union, will drive on what will be the nation’s most modern highway straight into the heart of America. The Mexican trucks will cross border in FAST lanes, checked only electronically by the new “SENTRI” system. The first customs stop will be a Mexican customs office in Kansas City, their new Smart Port complex, a facility being built for Mexico at a cost of $3 million to the U.S. taxpayers in Kansas City.
As incredible as this plan may seem to some readers, the first Trans-Texas Corridor segment of the NAFTA Super Highway is ready to begin construction next year. Various U.S. government agencies, dozens of state agencies, and scores of private NGOs (non-governmental organizations) have been working behind the scenes to create the NAFTA Super Highway, despite the lack of comment on the plan by President Bush. The American public is largely asleep to this key piece of the coming “North American Union” that government planners in the new trilateral region of United States, Canada and Mexico are about to drive into reality.
Just examine the following websites to get a feel for the magnitude of NAFTA Super Highway planning that has been going on without any new congressional legislation directly authorizing the construction of the planned international corridor through the center of the country.
NASCO, the North America SuperCorridor Coalition Inc., is a “non-profit organization dedicated to developing the world’s first international, integrated and secure, multi-modal transportation system along the International Mid-Continent Trade and Transportation Corridor to improve both the trade competitiveness and quality of life in North America.” Where does that sentence say anything about the USA? Still, NASCO has received $2.5 million in earmarks from the U.S. Department of Transportation to plan the NAFTA Super Highway as a 10-lane limited-access road (five lanes in each direction) plus passenger and freight rail lines running alongside pipelines laid for oil and natural gas. One glance at the map of the NAFTA Super Highway on the front page of the NASCO website will make clear that the design is to connect Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. into one transportation system.
Kansas City SmartPort Inc. is an “investor based organization supported by the public and private sector” to create the key hub on the NAFTA Super Highway. At the Kansas City SmartPort, the containers from the Far East can be transferred to trucks going east and west, dramatically reducing the ground transportation time dropping the containers off in Los Angeles or Long Beach involves for most of the country. A brochure on the SmartPort website describes the plan in glowing terms: “For those who live in Kansas City, the idea of receiving containers nonstop from the Far East by way of Mexico may sound unlikely, but later this month that seemingly far-fetched notion will become a reality.”
The U.S. government has housed within the Department of Commerce (DOC) an “SPP office” that is dedicated to organizing the many working groups laboring within the executive branches of the U.S., Mexico and Canada to create the regulatory reality for the Security and Prosperity Partnership. The SPP agreement was signed by Bush, President Vicente Fox, and then-Prime Minister Paul Martin in Waco, Tex., on March 23, 2005. According to the DOC website, a U.S.-Mexico Joint Working Committee on Transportation Planning has finalized a plan such that “(m)ethods for detecting bottlenecks on the U.S.-Mexico border will be developed and low cost/high impact projects identified in bottleneck studies will be constructed or implemented.” The report notes that new SENTRI travel lanes on the Mexican border will be constructed this year. The border at Laredo should be reduced to an electronic speed bump for the Mexican trucks containing goods from the Far East to enter the U.S. on their way to the Kansas City SmartPort.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is overseeing the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) as the first leg of the NAFTA Super Highway. A 4,000-page environmental impact statement has already been completed and public hearings are scheduled for five weeks, beginning next month, in July 2006. The billions involved will be provided by a foreign company, Cintra Concessions de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A. of Spain. As a consequence, the TTC will be privately operated, leased to the Cintra consortium to be operated as a toll-road.
The details of the NAFTA Super Highway are hidden in plan view. Still, Bush has not given speeches to bring the NAFTA Super Highway plans to the full attention of the American public. Missing in the move toward creating a North American Union is the robust public debate that preceded the decision to form the European Union. All this may be for calculated political reasons on the part of the Bush Administration.
A good reason Bush does not want to secure the border with Mexico may be that the administration is trying to create express lanes for Mexican trucks to bring containers with cheap Far East goods into the heart of the U.S., all without the involvement of any U.S. union workers on the docks or in the trucks.
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Copyright © 2006 HUMAN EVENTS. All Rights Reserved.
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North America’s SuperCorridor Coalition, Inc (NASCO)
http://www.nascocorridor.com/pages/abou ... tm#defined
About NASCO is a non-profit organization dedicated to developing the world’s first international, integrated and secure, multi-modal transportation system along the International Mid-Continent Trade and Transportation Corridor to improve both the trade competitiveness and quality of life in North America.
NASCO is not a government agency. We have no authority to build or develop anything unilaterally. NASCO will work with our members, state Departments of Transportation and federal and local agencies involved in transportation, trade and security to accomplish our mission.
The NASCO Corridor encompasses Interstate Highways 35, 29 and 94, and the significant east/west connectors to those highways in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The Corridor directly impacts the continental trade flow of North America. Membership includes public and private sector entities along the Corridor in Canada, the United States and Mexico.
From the largest border crossing in North America (The Ambassador Bridge in Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Canada), to the second largest border crossing of Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, extending to the deep water Ports of Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico and to Manitoba, Canada, the impressive, tri-national NASCO membership truly reflects the international scope of the Corridor and the regions it impacts.
NASCO has officially amalgamated with the former North American International Trade Corridor Partnership, which was a non profit organization in Mexico dedicated to economic development and improving trade relations through the heartland of America to Canada and Mexico. NASCO and the NAITCP have worked together successfully in the past, and now, with the amalgamation, will operate as one organization under the name NASCO, with a shared mission and objectives.
The North American Inland Port Network (NAIPN), a sub-committee of NASCO, has been tasked with developing an active inland port network along our corridor to specifically alleviate congestion at maritime ports and our nation’s borders. The NAIPN envisions an integrated, efficient and secure network of inland ports specializing in the transportation of containerized cargo in North America. The main guiding principal of the NAIPN is to develop logistics systems that enhance global security, but at the same time do not impede the cost-effective and efficient flow of goods.
NASCO has received $2.25 million in Congressional earmarks to be administered by the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) for the development of a technology integration and tracking project. The project will have a team approach, using members of NASCO as the primary participants in the project, to the extent possible. NASCO believes the deployment of a modern information system will reduce the cost, improve the efficiency, reduce trade-related congestion, and enhance security of cross-border and corridor information, trade and traffic.
SuperCorridor & NAFTA Highway Defined
SuperCorridor - not "Super-sized". As defined in Webster's dictionary, "Super" means "more inclusive than a specialized category". NASCO uses the term "SuperCorridor" to demonstrate we are more than just a highway coalition. NASCO works to develop key relationships along the EXISTING corridors we represent to maximize economic development opportunities along the NASCO Corridor, as well as coordinate the development of technology integration projects, inland ports, environmental initiatives, university research, and the sharing of "best practices". NASCO is particularly focused on coordinating the efforts of local, state and federal agencies and the private sector to integrate and secure a multimodal transportation system along the existing "NASCO Corridor."
"NAFTA Superhighway" - As of late, there has been much media attention given to the "new, proposed NAFTA Superhighway". NASCO and the cities, counties, states and provinces along our existing Interstate Highways 35/29/94 (the NASCO Corridor) have been referring to I-35 as the 'NAFTA Superhighway' for many years, as I-35 already carries a substantial amount of international trade with Mexico, the United States and Canada. There are no plans to build a new NAFTA Superhighway - it exists today as I-35.
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SASKATCHEWAN CALLS FOR ACTION ON TRANSPORTATION STRATEGY
htttp://www.gov.sk.ca/newsrel/releases/ ... -1129.html
Legislative Building - Regina, Canada S4S 0B3 - (306) 787-6281
News Release December 9, 2005 Highways and Transportation - 1129
The Council of the Federation's national transportation strategy provides a
blueprint for renewal of Canada's transportations system and underlines the need for a new partnership with the federal government, according to the provincial government.
"For Canada to succeed in the world marketplace, we need to build and maintain a modern transportation system - one that is safe, secure and supportive to the global trading network," Premier Lorne Calvert said. "The first step in achieving this goal is a renewed partnership with the federal government."
Premier Calvert was commenting on today's release of the Council of the
Federation's national transportation strategy document, Looking to the Future: A Plan for Investing in Canada's Transportation System. The strategy proposes a new transportation funding partnership, identifies a strategic transportation network, describes preliminary provincial and territorial priorities and recommends changes to the policy framework. The strategy identifies $97 billion in capital investment priorities, to be delivered over the next decade. Strategic priorities in Saskatchewan include the twinning of Highway 11 between Saskatoon and Prince Albert and the construction of bypasses around Regina and Saskatoon, objectives that could be achieved within 10 years with a renewed partnership with the federal government. Further priorities include the completion of twinning of Highway 1 and Highway 16 between the Battlefords and Lloydminister, currently targeted for 2007.
"Creating a transportation system that is truly integrated and multi-modal is key to ensuring Canada and Saskatchewan's competitiveness in the global marketplace and generating economic development," Calvert said. "For this reason, my government will continue to provide leadership on infrastructure renewal both at home and nationally."
Transportation is a key contributor to economic development both nationally and provincially. Saskatchewan's economy in particular is heavily reliant on an integrated and efficient transportation system, with export generating approximately two-thirds of provincial GDP.
"For jurisdictions to move forward on the priorities identified in the
strategy, a similar commitment from the federal government is required,"
Highways and Transportation Minister Eldon Lautermilch said. "A revitalized partnership with the federal government on the national transportation system would free up resources for provinces to pursue priorities of a more regional or local nature, like upgrading transportation corridors that support our provincial economy and ensures the safety of our citizens."
The Council of the Federation is comprised of all 13 provincial and
territorial premiers. It enables premiers to work collaboratively to
strengthen the Canadian federation by fostering a constructive relationship
among the provinces and territories, and with the federal government.
To learn more and obtain a copy of the strategy document, visit
www.councilofthefederation.ca.
For More Information, Contact:
Doug Wakabayashi
Highways and Transportation
Regina
Phone: (306) 787-4804
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A Vision for the Future
http://www.rupertport.com/development.htm
Significant changes in world trade patterns have shifted the focus of the Prince Rupert Port Authority (PPRA) and have already resulted in new initiatives, including a cruise and container port. Significant opportunities for industrial development mark the next phase in development potential at the port.Ridley Island is but one available property with enormous potential for development. Other properties include South Kaien, Coast, and Lelu Islands. All together, these properties represent almost 1000 hectares of land available for development.Prospective uses include liquid bulk transfer terminals with tank farm capability, barge terminals with heavy lift capability, and an expanded use of Ridley Terminals Inc. to other products and uses. Possible projects include and sulfur export facility, the Enbridge Pipeline "Gateway," an LNG import facility, a crude oil trans-shipment facility, the Alaska / Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline, offshore oil & gas related projects, major industrial projects in an industrial park, such as refining and smelting.The advantages Prince Rupert offers, including a deep, safe, harbour, and sites far from urban areas make these types of projects feasible.Today, Prince Rupert is Canada's second largest West Coast port. As North America's closest port to Asia, it is situated on the shortest land/sea route to the US Midwest. It is linked by rail to Canada's West and East coasts and the Southern Gulf coast, and through affiliates to Mexico, offering seamless access to three NAFTA nations.
Don Krusel, President & CEO
Prince Rupert Port Authority